Morris Kantor (Russian-American, 1896-1974). "Staircase" oil on canvas, 1931. Signed and dated by the artist on the lower right. Morris Kantor's "Staircase" demonstrates the artist's exploration of both realistic and visionary effects. The composition features the interior of a traditional New England house with a grand staircase boasting wonderful lathework on the balustrade, walls adorned by stenciling or wallpaper presenting repeated floral motifs and elaborate flourishes, crown molding with dentils, and beautiful trimwork framing the doorway crowned by a broken scrolled pediment. In addition to Kantor's meticulous attention to detail, there is a delicious element of mystery, perhaps a nod to Surrealism, in the composition, as Kantor has included some surprising details. The flowers on the floor before the entryway, for example, are bizarrely large, and the doorway, if it is a doorway, shows no signs of the actual door. Perhaps this is a mirror, and the Georgian house depicted is actually a reflection of what exists outside a doorway opposite it. What's more, the scene is eerily bereft of its human inhabitants, capturing the type of lonely quality that Edward Hopper was conveying in his paintings during this period as well. Size: 28" L x 26" W (71.1 cm x 66 cm) Size of frame: 28.625" L x 26.5" W (72.7 cm x 67.3 cm)

Interestingly, this painting is somewhat akin to Kantor's "Haunted House" (1930) at the Art Institute of Chicago (accession number 1931.707) which the curatorial team has described as being "inspired by the colonial houses he encountered during summers in New England" and has also linked to Surrealism.

Born in Minsk, Russia (now Belarus) Morris Kantor immigrated to the United States in 1906 when he was just a child. There is some debate as to whether he was with family or alone, but we know that he was very young, lived in New York City, and earned enough money working in the Garment District to enroll in art school by age 20. Kantor began attending the Independent School of Art in New York in 1916 and went on to teach at Cooper Union during the 1940s and the Art Students League from 1936 to 1972. Many of his students - including Robert Rauschenberg, Knox Martin, Susan Weil, and Sigmund Abeles - became quite famous in their own right.

Kantor maintained a studio in Manhattan, close to Union Square, as well as on Cape Cod in Wellfleet, Massachusetts. During the 1920s, he also worked in Paris. His arts circle included notable modernists such as the sculptor Isamu Noguchi. During the 1930s, Kantor supervised a Federal Arts Project Easel Painting Project in Rockland County, New York. The following decade he spent some summers in Monhegan, Maine, and in the 1960s his work was shown at Bertha Schaefer Gallery in New York City. Kantor's work has also been exhibited at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Hirshhorn Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Denver Art Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and other prestigious institutions. His honors include receiving the Logan Medal of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Temple Medal of the University of Illinois. Kantor's oeuvre was vast and impressive as he explored numerous styles ranging from realism colored by a hint of Surrealism, as we see in this example, to abstract movements including Cubism and Futurism.

Provenance: Private M. C. collection, Irvine, California, USA - acquired from the grandson of Morris Kantor; Ex-Morris Kantor collection

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#168237

The painting is signed and dated by the artist on the lower right. On the verso is a label for the Bertha Schaefer Gallery. There is a minute loss to pigment of the grandfather clock and minor scuffs here and there as shown. Frame shows some age wear with scuffs and nicks to the peripheries, but it is intact.